Rifles, shotguns, and other firearms are regularly operated by their users for purposes other than sport and hunting. It is perhaps true that most firearm discharges are for shooting at targets for enjoyment and improving a user's accuracy and speed. In contrast to hunting where relatively few shots are taken, a shooter taking advantage of range shooting typically intends to fire as much as the shooter's budget for money and time will allow. Thus, the range shooter is in a unique circumstance as compared with a hunting shooter. The range shooter is subject to range rules and regulations, which may include wearing of safety equipment. The range shooter must carry fairly heavy ammunition supplies to the shooter's station and maintain them in a safe manner. The range shooter is in what is generally found to be an atmosphere where the focus on safety and intense attention to verbal and visual cues about when shooting may start and stop, as well as when a shooter may retrieve or replace a paper target.
The range shooter is also typically also exposed to the inspection of other shooters and range personnel so that that conformity with range rules, especially about safety and awareness of ones surroundings, and personal shooting activities can be easily corrected. Thus, many features and situations all around the shooter must receive careful attention, both visual and audible.
Clearly, the range shooter is benefited by minimizing distractions by way of organization of the shooter's supplies. As opposed to the hunting shooter, the range shooter requires a sturdy shooting or range bag at least for carrying ammunition and small firearms, such as pistols. In addition, a range shooter will almost certainly carry in the shooting or range bag a relatively standard set of items in support of the range shooter's activities. While theses support items are fairly standard, their organization in the shooting or range bag has been entirely disregarded to the prejudice of the range shooter.
One drawback to a failure to provide for organization of relatively standardized shooter supplies at a shooting range or other target shooting venue is that significant diversion of the range shooter's attention from the firearm, the shooter's surroundings and situation, and the target generally requires the shooter to properly secure their firearm, either by laying the firearm down in a proper manner, engaging the safety, and/or unloading the firearm entirely. Thus, the disorganized shooting or range bag is a potentially dangerous distraction, inducing the range shooter to, in some circumstances, rummage about in the shooting or range bag without taking proper care of the firearm or paying attention to visual or audible instructions about range activities. For instance, a range shooter rummaging about in a shooting or range bag for their shooting glasses may miss the instruction to begin firing, which will preclude that shooter from taking part in that shooting session. It may induce that shooter to fumble to put on their late-found shooting glasses and begin shooting at a time which is against the rules or in an unsafe manner.
Where in other situations as poorly organized supplies bag may only be inconvenient, the prior art of shooting and range bags has been to proliferate a potentially dangerous situation without addressing the problem. In contrast to the prior art, the present invention provides the range shooter with an effective solution to the inconvenience and potential danger of a disorganized shooting or range bag.